Power outages disable Coyote Valley Dam

A seven-hour power outage near Ukiah Tuesday night disabled the Coyote Valley Dam at Lake Mendocino, dropping Russian River water levels overnight.

The worst occurred over a 40- to 45-minute time period while the dam was operated manually. Water outputs from the dam dropped from 116 cubic feet per second to about 25 cfs, or, in layman’s terms, about a tenth of an inch, said Brad Sherwood, spokesman for the Sonoma County Water Agency.

While that may not sound like much, it is enough to strand fish and wildlife, resulting in deaths, Sherwood said. None have been reported.

The City of Ukiah, which operates the area’s utilities, said equipment failure caused the 9:39 p.m. outage that cut power to the dam as well as 1,052 customers. Power was restored to the majority of customers by 1:30 a.m., but some remained without electricity until 4:30 a.m.

Water agency biologists monitored the river Wednesday for signs that the dip in water level affected local wildlife. There were no reports of damage.